4 pancakes and a funeral

My birthday started out as any other Tuesday would have. We all woke up, Daddy hopped into the shower, and I got the kids dressed and Connor ready for school. When Brian came out of the shower, I took my turn getting clean. I got dressed and started to head down the stairs. Like a troll guarding the bridge my son, Connor, popped out telling me to stop!!! He said we're making you breakfast in bed for your birthday. This was a tradition brought in by my husband's family. Decorating the house is something mine would do.

 I explained to Connor, "This is not how breakfast in bed works honey. Usually you surprise the person with breakfast before they wake up. I'm already dressed and ready to go!"

 Tears began to fill in his eyes and that old familiar lip twitch started to emerge.

 I quickly took back everything I said and told him, "But it's ok, I'll go back to bed and wait. It's a very thoughtful special thing you are doing for Mommy, so it doesn't matter when you bring breakfast!"

 To my relief this was a satisfactory answer and the tears never fell from his eyes. Crisis averted. Daddy decided to make pancakes with a new raspberry syrup that he had just bought.

 The next question Connor asked me was, "Do you want 1 breakfast in bed or all of us breakfast in bed?"

 I guess I didn't really think that through...I said I wanted all of them with me, but the next thing I knew I was begging to feed my 6 and 3 year old sticky red pancakes fearing that the sticky syrup would drop on our bedspread. The thing I kept reminding myself was that the boys were happy, and memories were being made.

 After the successful breakfast in bed, Daddy had left for work. We had a fish that the boys won from a carnival a few days before.

 Connor yelled to me, "Mommy! Come here! The fish is not moving!!!" 

The fish had died during the night. Again - the lip twitch emerged. I quickly asked him if he would rather let him go down the toilet to go back to the ocean, or bury him the backyard. That was a no-brainer for him. He wanted a funeral.

 He didn't really understand this concept at all, but it was a good learning opportunity for them both. We dug a hole, put the fish in and covered him up. We found a nice rock for the headstone and put it on top. Connor didn't know what to say, so I said a few words and I explained to them that God made the fish from the earth and now he would change back into dirt.  We would always have the memories and those would never go away, so he would always be with us somehow.

 As I drove Connor to school he was deep in thought. When I opened the door to let him go to school he smiled at me and said, "I'm glad we put the fish in the hole in our backyard Mom."

 Somehow that was comforting for him, and I'm glad.

Reyburn Family Schedule

So here's the schedule that we followed during spring break:

Reyburn Family Schedule

7:00am Make your bed
7:30am Eat Breakfast
8:00am Brush your teeth
8:15am Dance Time!
8:45am Circle Time - What day is it. What are we going to do today?
9:00am Theme Game
9:30am Art Activity
10:00am Educational Video (on You Tube or Netflix)
10:30am Play with Toys
11:30am Lunchtime
12:00am Play Outside
12:30am Music Time!
1:00pm Reading time
1:30pm Nap Time/Rest Time
2:30pm Theme Game
3:00pm Play with Toys
4:00pm Watch a Show
5:00pm Dinner Time
5:30pm Daddy Time
6:30pm Bath/Shower
7:00pm Brush your teeth & get Ready for bed
7:15pm Read a book & Say our Prayers
7:45pm Go to Bed

It wasn't always exactly followed, but at least it was something that kept us going especially when we were at home all day. Connor got excited about the "Theme" for that day and couldn't wait to learn about the next thing. I'd just take about 30 minutes the night before to print out and research some craft ideas. It was nice to actually have some structured time with the kids.

I can't attach the spreadsheet, but just email me (jamiereyburn@hotmail.com) if you want it so you can edit it and I had check boxes for each day. The boys loved to check off what we did. I am addicted to spreadsheets...maybe it's the business college degree lingering in me!

I also started a spreadsheet for behaviors. Each day they would get a smiley face : ) straight face : | or sad face : (. I said if they got a certain amount of smileys they could have a treat at the end of the week. Here's those behaviors:

Make your bed
Eat Breakfast
Brush your teeth
Clean up
Eat Lunch
Take a Rest
No Whining
Be nice to your Brother
Be nice to the Dogs
Please and Thank you
Listen to Mom
Listen to Dad
Eat Dinner
Play nicely
Share your toys
Brush your teeth
Read a book
Say your prayers
Go to bed

I looked at a friend of mine's list and it was much shorter, so maybe a few of those things can be taken off. She also has a chore list. So she separates the behaviors if they get paid for them.

Anyway, I hope this was useful for whomever! It was a good trial, and I think we are going to survive this summer. Of course, we have swimming lessons and other activities to fill up our day too!!!!

Spring Break...for the stay at home Mom!

Being a stay at home Mom is a very rewarding job, but sometimes is pretty tough. Especially when you have a newborn to take care of. She does tend to sleep a lot, which is a bonus to have time to play with the boys. A lot of times though she demands my attention. I'm just glad that there's enough of a gap where the boys can somewhat entertain and take care of themselves if forced to.

When Spring Break came up though I knew it would be a challenge to keep the boys busy. Connor is the king of asking what is going to happen next. So I started a schedule for the week and Connor loved it. Instead of asking now what should I do, he would go to the schedule and look. He even said I was like his teacher that week.

We learned about Butterflies, Easter, Caterpillars, and Eggs!

2 Months old?!?!

I can't believe my baby girl is growing so quickly! She is so much fun I can't believe it! I never remember it being so easy. Maybe because none of my boys slept through the night at 2 months old! She is sleeping from about 10 or 11pm to 4 or 5am!!! Sometimes I'm lucky and she sleeps until the alarm goes off! How can I complain?!? By this point I'm usually going insane due to insomnia! Now I'm am actually more well rested than I have been in the past year! I am really loving this round of being a Mom.

The hardest part is taking the time to do the diaper change when I'm half asleep. I remember that was Brian's job with Connor...but that quickly faded with the next child. Brian said he can't even remember the last time he changed a poopie diaper! I've gotta change that - LOL!

He's been a great help with her though - and since she is so good I've already gone out to the Cheesecake factory with my sister and he watched her. I also am starting to run again! Yay! I also went to my first bookclub meeting with her, and it was easy! I'm glad to have everything falling into place so easily this time around!

She now weighs 12 lbs and is 22.5 inches!